Lily of the Valley (Convallaria), a genus of plants of the natural order Liliaceæ, having terminal racemes of flowers; a white, bell-shaped, or tubular 6-cleft or 6-toothed perianth; a 3-celled germen, with two ovules in each cell, and a succulent fruit. The species commonly known as the Lily of the Valley (C. majalis), the Maiblume or
Mayflower of the Germans, grows in bushy places and woods in Europe, the North of Asia, and North America, and has a leafless scape, with a raceme of small flowers turned to one side. It is a universal favourite, on account of its pleasing appearance, the fragrance of its flowers, and the early season at which they appear. It is therefore very often cultivated in gardens, and forced to earlier flowering in hot-houses. Varieties are in cultivation with red, variegated, and double flowers. The berries, the root, and the flowers have a nauseous, bitter, and somewhat acrid taste and purgative and diuretic effects. The smell of the flowers when in large quantity, and in a close apartment, is narcotic. Dried and powdered, they become a sternutatory. The esteemed Eau d'or of the French is a water distilled from the flowers.—Allied to Lily of the Valley is Solomon's Seal (q.v.).